


The Club

by orphan_account



Category: Starfighter (Comic)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-02-15
Updated: 2013-02-15
Packaged: 2017-11-29 08:42:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,037
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/685021
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It’s Valentine’s Day aboard the Sleipnir, and Cain’s fan club is all atwitter…</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Club

**Author's Note:**

> Ha just another EMG standalone, don't mind me. Despite the fact that this seems like it could be related to Payback (hurr or Scared), it is totally unaffiliated. <3 <3 <3 
> 
> Also, decided to try out Phobos rather than Athos for this one. :)

"Shut up," Phobos said, straightening in his seat. "Shut up; he's coming." He tossed his hair over his shoulder and shot a sharp look at Porthos when he didn't immediately stop talking.

Porthos caught his eye and broke off; turning away from the other navigator he'd been talking to. "What?"

"He's coming," Phobos repeated. He paused, then glanced at Porthos again to say, "And you sound like a fucking idiot."

Porthos opened his mouth, frowning, but at that moment Cain passed by their table and he shut it again, teeth clicking together.

Phobos leaned forward across the table, glancing up as Cain passed down the long aisle in the mess hall. Deimos was just beside him, but he wasn't looking at Phobos at all, and Phobos felt himself blush in sheer anger at having Deimos so blatantly ignore him.

He pushed that down though, brushed his hair to the side and exposed the line of his neck as he said, "Hi, Cain."

Cain's eyes flicked toward him, upper lip curling. Phobos thought he knew why Cain was looking at him like that; not just his regular snarl but with something darker. Phobos supposed the rumors were true; that Cain really did care about his navigator more than he let on. He glanced at Deimos again, but he was staring off to the side; eyes tracking something on the other side of the room.

Cain didn't say anything, didn't hold Phobos' gaze as he kept walking, and when he was out of sight, Phobos felt his face heat more.

"Who's the idiot?" Porthos asked, smirking. Phobos kicked him hard in the shin and then stood up, leaving his tray behind as he left the table.

"Wait!" A voice said behind him. "Tomorrow's Valentine's Day—what about that—"

Phobos wheeled around, almost sent a passing fighter flying with the force of it. "Come to my room tonight," he said. "We can finish it then."

He stalked away before anyone could call him back again, going back to his room since he knew it was empty, sitting on his bed and waiting for the blush to recede from his cheeks. When he had calmed down, gotten himself together, Phobos stood. He glanced at Deimos' bed for a long moment before he went back down to the lab.

The rest of the navigators came by after they were done working, crowding into Phobos' room and sitting around on the floor while he perched on the edge of the bed. "So who has it?" he asked.

One of them sat up, digging around in a bag beside him, handing Phobos what he wanted. Phobos looked at the navigator for a second. He was certain he knew this one; named after some philosophical term he couldn't remember.

"Thanks," he said, and just left it at that. He glanced down at the card in his hands, the pale red hearts and tiny chips of aluminum glued to the paper to look like sparkles.

He opened it up, looking at the message he and the other navigators had painstakingly decided on:

_Happy Valentine's Day, Cain. We don't have any candy, but we think you're pretty sweet anyway._

_Love,  
Your Secret Admirers_

"It's all right," Phobos said. "I just think we need—wait." He squinted at the paper, then looked up, glaring. "Who the fuck drew a dick on here?"

None of the navigators said anything, but they all looked guilty; glancing around at each or at the floor, rubbing their faces. Then someone snickered. Phobos turned to glare at Porthos. He wasn't sitting on the floor like the others, but standing, arms across his chest, leaning against the far wall.

"What?" Porthos asked. He pulled a cigarette out of his pocket and lit it up as Phobos watched.

"Did you draw that?"

Porthos shrugged. "He's a dick. It seemed fitting."

Phobos stood up as smoke began to curl toward the ceiling. He stepped past the navigators sitting around him, stepping on a few hands but not stopping until he reached Porthos and took the cigarette out of his mouth. He dropped it to the ground and crushed it beneath his boot.

"He's the best fighter in the fleet," Phobos said. "Who cares if he's a dick?"

Porthos frowned, staring down at his cigarette on the floor.

"You can't smoke in here," Phobos said, before Porthos could comment. He looked down at the card again, wishing he'd just worked on the stupid fucking thing by himself, but he had needed everyone else's help to get the supplies, couldn't have done it on his own…and all the rest of them wanted to make an impression on Cain just as much as he did. "You all should leave," he said. "I'll deliver it myself."

"Hey, wait!" one of them complained. Phobos didn't recognize the voice or the face of the speaker. All the navigators started to blend into each other after a while, even for him. "We all worked hard on that," he continued, standing up to face Phobos down. "We should all be there when it gets delivered."

Phobos sneered. "Oh, yeah? You think Cain'll like to have ten navigators hanging off him when he gets back from training, do you?"

Porthos made a little snorting noise at that, but Phobos shot him a glare and said, "Shut the fuck up," and he stopped.

"All I'm saying—" the other navigator began, but Phobos was finished listening.

He grabbed the shit by the front of his jacket and shoved him toward the door. "Get out, all of you."

"Hey!" the other said, falling back against the door and glaring. "What the—"

Phobos hit the door open button, and the guy fell out into the hallway, landing flat on his ass. He glared, but Phobos was already turning away to survey the others, all of whom got to their feet and started filing out. Navigators were good at taking hints.

Porthos was last, lingering near the door as Phobos tried to push him out.

"You owe me another cigarette," he said, but then the door was closing, and Porthos just managed to smirk and turn away, flicking a small wave over his shoulder before the door shut.

Phobos sank back onto his bed, looking at the crumpled card in his hand. He licked his thumb and tried to smudge off the dick on the inside, but nothing happened. He searched the room for something that might remove it, was still searching when the door opened again, and Deimos entered.

Phobos didn't look up; buried halfway in one of the storage spaces lining the walls. When he heard the rustle of paper, however, he straightened, ducking around the open cabinet door to watch Deimos pick up the card.

"Hey, that's private!" he said, jerking the paper out of Deimos' hand, hearing it rip in the process.

Deimos raised his eyes. "So, you're still in that club?"

"I'm the  _President_ ," Phobos snapped, examining the tear in the paper.

Deimos snorted. "So are you going to give him this one?"

"What do you mean?" Phobos asked, paper slipping from his fingers and fluttering to the bed.

"I've seen the other ones," Deimos said, smirking and changing out of his clothes.

Phobos watched, not looking away even when Deimos caught him, holding his gaze when Deimos walked toward him.

"You went through my things," Phobos accused.

Deimos shrugged, lifted a hand and ran it back through Phobos' hair, rubbing against the back of his neck. "Don't tell me you haven't done the same."

Phobos narrowed his eyes and tried to pull away from Deimos' grip, but Deimos wasn't having it, holding tight until Phobos said, " _Yes_ , fine, get off."

Deimos smiled and let go, moving back as Phobos snatched up the card and headed for the door. "I'm giving him this one," he said, and the door closed behind him, shutting out the sound of Deimos' quiet laugh.

He hadn't planned on delivering the card so soon; it was still torn and rumpled and he hadn't found any way to get the dick off, but he couldn't go back to his room just yet, and especially not with the card. He thought about just throwing it out; passed enough trash bins on the way that he could have done it easily, but he held on, found himself stopped in front of Cain's room a few minutes later.

Phobos swallowed, raised a hand to knock before he decided against it. He leaned down instead and slipped the card beneath the door, was about to just get out of there before Cain showed up, when he heard something from inside the room.

He had barely straightened up when the door hissed open, Cain standing on just the other side half-dressed and hair tousled, holding the card in his hands.

"What the fuck is this?" he asked, glancing between Phobos and the card. "Who're you?"

"Phobos?" Abel appeared from behind the wall, equally disheveled, coming to stand at Cain's shoulder. His eyes found the card in Cain's hands, growing wider as he examined it. "That—is that a Valentine's Day card…for Cain?"

Phobos didn't say anything; couldn't say anything with both of them suddenly looking at him. When Abel's eyes suddenly narrowed, Phobos swallowed.

"Is this from that club?" he asked.

"What club?" Cain said, glancing down at the card again, upper lip curling.

Phobos cleared his throat, face on fire. "The—the Navigators for Cain Fan Club," he muttered, glancing down when Abel's face turned red, when he sucked his lower lip into his mouth to stop himself from laughing.

"The—" Cain started, but Phobos was already walking away, shoulders hunched in humiliation. He heard the pair of them talking behind him so he hurried his steps, just imagining the mortification he'd have to face the next day once they'd told everyone on the ship.

He hadn't even rounded the corner when a hand fell to his shoulder, forcing him to stop. Phobos wasn't sure whom he had been expecting when he turned around, but it hadn't been Cain.

"I'm sorry," he said at once, cringing away from him, sure that Cain was going to beat the shit out of him for making him look like an idiot.

The card was still in his hand. He glanced down at it before meeting Phobos' gaze, expression unreadable. "Cute," he said. Then he gripped Phobos by the hair and pulled him forward, mouth closing over his for a brief moment, sharp bite of teeth against his lower lip as he pulled away.

Phobos gasped when Cain released him, watched Cain walk away as though nothing had happened, returning to his door. In the moment it opened, Phobos watched a pale hand slide against Cain's bare chest, rising up to his shoulder and clenching down. Phobos watched Cain's mouth turn up a little; not a smirk but a smile, just before Abel pulled him into the room. The door closed.

Phobos licked his lips and returned to his room in a daze, mind already settling on the story he was going to tell the rest of the club at their meeting tomorrow. Nothing Porthos could say could take away the fact that Cain had kissed him; had acknowledged him.

Deimos was waiting for him when he came back, didn't look surprised at all when Phobos climbed onto the bed and kissed him, brushing Deimos' hair out of his eyes and rolling their hips together. They lay back after they had disentangled from each other, Deimos helping Phobos strip down to his underclothes and then pulling the blanket up over both of them.

"So?" he asked, voice quiet in the darkness.

Phobos shrugged, tracing Deimos' collarbone with the tip of his finger. "He took the card."

A pause. "That's itl?"

Phobos' finger faltered, then resumed again, skimming across the thin fabric of Deimos' shirt. "Yeah." Before Deimos could say anything else, he continued. "He's not going to transfer, is he? He's going to stay with Abel."

Phobos startled when Deimos' fingers trailed down his arm, finding his in the darkness and intertwining, clenching tight, palms pressing together.

"Cain won't leave him," Deimos said, and that was all.

**Author's Note:**

> this fic is like the terrifying lovechild of crack fic and real fic. YOU ALL DESERVE SO MUCH BETTER THAN THIS ON THIS DAY OF LOVE AND APPRECIATION *cries*


End file.
